Nah the line I'm replacing the broken line with is meters longer then it should be.. I was hoping I could just cut the line and tie a figure 8 loop till I could get a replacement... I found a pair online for $50 but they want over $50 for shipping two lines to Canada... Insanity, I cannot in good conscious pay that... Guess I'll have to learn to make my own.

Dave, You can use a regular sewing machine with zig zag stitch and denim needle. the zig zag width is adjustable on most sewing machines so you'll have to play with the adjustment, the idea is to stitch the two lines together under the sleeving. So adjust the width to accomplish this while keeping the threads off the outer edge of the sleeving as this can be chafed when making a larks head.

You need to use thread that is UV and mildew, water resistant and reasonable strong, I use sail repair thread. Have made dozens of line sets none have failed becasue of my sleeving or stitching. Also use denim needle,

In a larks head knot the thread is virtually unloaded so this is not a high stakes game if you're stitching isn't perfect. Or if the thread isn't bombproff I ride my shit till my lines break or till I start losing strands and NONE have failed at my sleeving

The claw on most sewing machines will be too narrow or wide to feed the sleeved kite line through consistently. You will have to make a cardboard template with a length cut out of it equal to the length you want to sew(the cut out is so you don't sew the line to the template)

Then you tape the sleeved kiteline to the template. The claw then pushes on the template to feed the assembly through the sewing machine. For the template think light switch cover only cardboard with a longer cut out.

the stitching is straight forward back stitch first centermeters or two, run it the length of the line and back stich the last centemeter takes some practice so try it on a piece of broken line and plan on discarding 1 sleeve, (you can get more at www.fixmykite.com) Use a thread ripper rip the threads out, try again till you can make it look pro consistently. if you can already sew, this should be no problem,

Really only tricky part is figuring out you need to use the template.....otherwise you're just running it over with a sewing machine

I want to replace my stock lines with stiffer lines. But I don’t know if I can simply use a figure 8 knot at the Y junction of the front lines. One front line is plugged at the Y and the other attached to the flagging line. An 8 knot doesn’t seem appropriate as the tension seems to be reversed so the bottom of the knot is taking the load (not sure if I’m making sense)

Splicing might be an option too. Can you splice Q power lines or is it too difficult with the innercore.

i have literally cut standard lines down with scissors and tied all overhand knots at all ends for larks heads. take minutes - they didn't snap, great way to make a short line set quickly, dunno if i would trust this for huge waves and offshore missions tho!

I want to replace my stock lines with stiffer lines. But I don’t know if I can simply use a figure 8 knot at the Y junction of the front lines. One front line is plugged at the Y and the other attached to the flagging line. An 8 knot doesn’t seem appropriate as the tension seems to be reversed so the bottom of the knot is taking the load (not sure if I’m making sense)

Splicing might be an option too. Can you splice Q power lines or is it too difficult with the innercore.

you can't splice qpowerline because it's cored, but you can knot it (you can't knot 12 strand line but you can splice it). So on the non-flag out line it's possible to replace it with q-powerline and figure 8 a knot behind the plastic Y, but on the other end, it needs to feed through the line, so if you put a knot anywhere it will catch and cause your safety to fail. You shouldn't take q-powerline and knot it behind the Y on the safety line, because when that knot runs through the rest of your safety system it will catch on the bar or some other place and fail when you least want it to. What you can do is get some 12-strand dyneema/spectra with poly coating, it's a bit thicker, 1.75mm or a bit thicker instead of 1.5mm and then splice where needed and replace your old lines.

Alternatively you can replace both lines with q-powerline and knot both behind the Y but take out that flag out system and instead leash on the depower rope if you have below the bar depower, or suicide, or possibly on an oh shit ring.

If you tie knots in spliced lines they will break the first time you put much pressure on them, I have seen it happen many times, don't do it.

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